The TSG team has worked extensively in nations and economies around the globe. This background includes much more than one-off client activity or brief assignments; rather, team members are nationals of the countries in which they are based or, if not, have lived in-country or visited frequently over a period of decades, working with senior government, business and civil society representatives. The team has served at senior levels of national governments and the European Commission, with business and law firms, trade associations and policy organizations and with international financial institutions and organizations. We are fluent in a range of business-relevant languages and in the increasingly international language of business.

Where We Are Located

Mr. Dana M. Marshall - President | Washington

TSG’s founder and president is Dana M. Marshall. Mr. Marshall has over three decades of experience in international business, energy, commercial, financial, foreign policy and national security issue areas, derived from positions in the private sector and government service.
In the private sector, Mr. Marshall served for 12 years as senior advisor and consultant for international business and foreign policy to several U.S.-based international law firms.

Prior to his private sector career, Mr. Marshall served in a number of international commercial, economic, financial and foreign policy-related positions in the U.S. government, in the White House, the Departments of State and Commerce; office of the U.S. Trade Representative; the Senate and House of Representatives and at several American embassies abroad in Latin America, Australia and Europe. His last overseas position as a career Foreign Service officer was a four-year assignment to the U.S. Mission to the European Union, stationed in Brussels.

These positions, in Republican and Democratic White Houses and over decades with senior officials throughout the U.S. government and with foreign government leaders and private policy organizations, media and others provide clients with the ability to reach out effectively to policy- and political-level contacts in both U.S. political parties, with private stakeholders and internationally.

Mr. Marshall holds degrees in international business, energy and resource economics/engineering and physics. He chairs or serves on several private sector advisory committees to the U.S. government and in trade and political organizations.

He has also been an adjunct faculty member at American University in Washington, teaching a seminar on global business and international economic policy.

Abdullah Akyuz serves as an advisor to Turkish Industry and Business Association (TUSIAD) as well as serving on the Board of Is Investment, Turkey’s largest investment bank.
Between 1999 and 2011 Mr. Akyuz served as the founding President of TUSIAD-US Inc., TUSIAD’s US Representative Office, a position that has given him ample opportunity to establish high-level contacts with senior government officials, business leaders as well as the representatives of international bodies in both Turkey and the US. Mr. Akyuz has also served as a Board Member of the ISE-Settlement and Custody Bank, Inc. (TAKASBANK), as well as a member of Treasury’s “Domestic Borrowing Advisory Board”.

Between 1983-1990, Abdullah Akyuz served on the Capital Markets Board, the Turkish equivalent of the SEC, as an economist. In June 1990, he became the Director of the newly established Bonds and Bills Market at the Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE). At the ISE, he led the teams that set up Turkey’s first organized fixed-income as well as world’s first organized repo markets. In May 1994 Mr. Akyuz became the Executive Vice-Chairman of the ISE, overseeing the operations of several departments during his tenure. He was in charge of Equity, Fixed-Income, Derivatives and Membership Departments at the time of his departure from the ISE at the end of 1998.

Mr. Abdullah Akyuz received his B.A. degree in Economics and Finance from the Faculty of Political Science at the University of Ankara (1983), his M.A. degree in Economics from the University of California-Davis (1986), and graduated from Wharton School’s Advanced Management Program (1996).

He has been the author of several publications and appeared on numerous US, Turkish and international media outlets as a commentator on issues related to finance, securities markets, US and Turkish economies, Turkish-American relations and global developments. Mr. Akyuz resides in both the US and Turkey. He teaches part-time at George Washington University’s School of Business in Washington, DC and Bahcesehir University MBA program in Istanbul.

Majyd Aziz is the President of the family-owned MHG Group of Companies and Senior Advisor of family-owned Seatrade Group of Companies. The Groups are involved in textiles, exports of minerals, imports of coal and commodities, shipping and port services, etc.
He is also the Chairman of the Pakistani government-owned SME Bank Ltd, Founder Chairman of Pakistan-Indonesia Business Forum, Founder Chairman of Pakistan-Sri Lanka Business Forum, and Founder Secretary General of Pakistan Japan Business Forum. Mr. Aziz is a Former President of Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry which is the largest Chamber in Pakistan and among the top ten in the world. He was twice Chairman of SITE Association of Industry, a representative organization of 3000 industries in largest industrial estate of Pakistan.

Mr. Aziz served on the Boards of 17 educational institutes and universities of Karachi. He had been nominated as Director of Karachi Electric Supply Corporation by the Prime Minister. He is a Founder of Workers-Employers Bilateral Council of Pakistan (WEBCOP), Founder of Citizen-Police Liaison Committee, and Founder Chairman of SITE Crime Monitor Cell. He is a Founder Governor of Karachi Center for Dispute Resolution, a pioneering concept introduced in Pakistan. He served on the Board of Pakistan Railways and as a Senior Advisor of Memon Medical Institute Hospital.

Mr. Aziz earned his B.S. and M.A. in General Business Administration and Management respectively from Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana.

He is actively involved in youth and women empowerment as he is the sole Global Patron of Association of Women Entrepreneurs and Career Women of India and of Pakistan. He was elected or nominated as leader and spokesperson of the Employers Group in numerous ILO-related programs and he has been nominated five times to attend various programs in US under the aegis of USAID, US FCS and USTDA. He is the Honorary Citizen of Houston and Austin, Texas. He was actively involved in advocacy programs for ROZ initiative by USA for Pakistan. His long list of distinguished awards, associations and writings can be found in the link below.

Since 1984, Dr. Bailey has been an international economic consultant to governments, government agencies, corporations, commercial banks, investment banking firms, trade associations and trading companies on five continents. Dr. Norman A. Bailey is President of the Institute for Global Economic Growth and Vice Chairman of The Americas Forum.
Dr. Bailey founded Overseas Equity Inc., which prepared investment studies for clients in the financial field. He then joined investment banking firm, Bailey, Tondu, Warwick & Co., Inc. and become its president. The firm specialized in debt and equity transactions in the developing world.

His U.S. government experience includes service on the staff of the National Security Council at the White House, and in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Dr. Bailey is currently residing in Israel where he is teaching and doing research for the University of Haifa’s Center for National Security Studies. He also teaches at the Israeli Defense College and helping to establish the first research center on Geo-Economics in the world. Fluent in five languages, Dr. Bailey maintains an extensive network of key relationships throughout the regions and in the industries in which he has worked and consulted.

Prior to his post at University of Haifa, Dr. Bailey has taught at The City University of New York (Queens College) and at the Institute of World Politics in Washington. Dr. Bailey has been awarded two honorary degrees, The National Security Award and the Cold War Commemorative Medal. He is a Knight of the Portuguese Royal Order of Our Lady of the Conception of Vila Vicosa. A native of Chicago, Illinois, Dr. Bailey is a graduate of Oberlin College and holds the degrees of Master of International Affairs and Doctor of Philosophy from Columbia University.

Jean-François Boittin’s focus at Transnational Strategy Group is transatlantic, EU and French trade, technology and sanctions matters. He also serves as special advisor to the Director General of the French Treasury and just completed a report on trade policy and the digital economy. He was Minister Counselor for Economic and Financial Affairs at the French Embassy in Washington DC from November 2010 till September 2013.
Prior to that, he was the Minister Counselor for Economic and Financial Affairs at the French Embassy in Berlin from July 2006 to November 2010 and the Minister Counselor for Economic and Commercial Affairs at the French Embassy in Washington DC from September 1997 to June 2006.

Prior to this appointment, he served as Deputy Under Secretary at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, in Paris.

From 1992 to 1995, he was in charge of trade policy and in that capacity negotiated, within the European Union, the final phase of the Uruguay Round and was a frequent spokesman for France in the 113 Full Members Committee in Brussels. At the same time he served as French representative to the OECD Trade Committee. He was actively involved in the launch of the ASEM, the TABD and the NEA negotiations. In 1996 and 1997, Mr. Boittin headed the trade finance division at the Ministry of Economy, supervising COFACE, the French Export Financing Agency, and managing the tied aid program.

From 1986 to 1992, Mr. Boittin was the French representative to GATT in Geneva.
In 1985 – 1986, he served on the staff of the Minister for Trade and Industry, Edith Cresson.
He was previously posted to Washington (1984-1985) and New York (1980-1983).

Mr. Boittin was born in 1949. He is a graduate of Ecole Normale Supérieure, where he eamed advanced degrees in classics, and Ecole Nationale d’Administration. He is married and the father of four daughters.

The Hon. M. Robert Carr - Senior Advisor for Policy and the Political Process | Washington

The Honorable M. Robert Carr continues a long and distinguished career in law and public policy, including 18 years as a Member of the United States House of Representatives from Michigan. For seven years Mr. Carr was Of Counsel to a Washington law firm where he specialized in law and technology issues as well as higher education.
He has served on the House Armed Services Committee, as Vice-Chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and State Departments and related agencies. His service on the House Judiciary Committee focused on intellectual property matters. He also served on the House Natural Resources Committee. As Chairman of the House Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee, he led Congress to pass two, 37 billion dollar transportation infrastructure funding bills.

He returned to private practice to serve clients in three areas: international business in commercial relations, public relations, and private equity consulting. His clients have included General Motors, Bridgestone/Firestone, United Airlines, Aljomaih Group (Saudi Arabia), The Intelligent Transportation Society of America, WMJT-DTV (Puerto Rico), St. Louis University, STMicroelectronics, and Overstock.com.

Mr. Carr is a Director on the Board of the United States Association of Former Members of Congress and the Supporters of a Civil Society in Russia, Inc. He is also a member on the Advisory Board of WHYHunger.org and the Economic Innovation Institute. His international activities have included election monitoring and advising parliamentary bodies and members in the developing nations.

Mr. Carr is currently an Adjunct Professor at George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management where he teaches Ethics in Congress. He is also adjunct faculty at Brookings Institution Executive Education, training Brookings Legislative Fellows and giving presentations regarding federal budgeting, authorization and appropriations processes.

A former Chinese government official and journalist, Mr. Winston Chen specializes in assisting multinational business working in China, public policy and communications strategies. In prior positions, he was chief China representative of major Washington-based strategic advisory and global public affairs firms.
Mr. Chen began his career in the Chinese State Council’s office of Hong Kong and Macao affairs as well as in the National People’s Congress, where he worked on the preparatory committee for the Hong Kong hand-over.

While in the U.S., Mr. Chen worked for Hong Kong’s Sing Tao Daily, serving as the newspaper’s Washington Bureau Chief, covering U.S.-China relations and U.S. national news.

Mr. Chen’s clients have included firms in numerous sectors including finance/investment, new and renewable energy, gaming, agriculture, internet, telecommunications, consumer goods and others.

He concurrently serves as representative in China for the Committee of 100, an international, non-profit, non-partisan membership organization that brings a Chinese American perspective to issues concerning Asian Americans and U.S.-China relations.

He received his MPA from Harvard’s Kennedy School and his MA and BA in international relations from Peking University.

Carmine D’Aloisio is a business consultant to international companies, economic development organizations, and trade associations, and an innovator in residence at American University in Washington. A former U.S. diplomat in Europe, East and South Asia, and the Middle East, he brings more than three decades of commercial advocacy and trade facilitation assistance to U.S. and international firms and global management of trade and investment development programs overseas and in Washington, DC. He also is senior project consultant to the American Academy of Diplomacy for the Academy’s Commercial Diplomacy Project identifying requirements to address challenges of today’s global marketplace.

Previously, Mr. D’Aloisio served as the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Senior Commercial Officer for Europe where he created, developed, and led an innovative regional field unit based out of Rome with 250 employees at Embassies in 22 European countries promoting U.S. exports and reverse investment and protecting U.S. economic interests abroad. Earlier he led U.S. Embassy and Consulate commercial teams in India, Korea, The Philippines, Thailand, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Italy. Mr. D’Aloisio served twice in Washington as Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Operations, where he managed U.S. Commercial Service Operations in more than 85 foreign markets. He started his economic development career as legislative aide in Washington to Congressman Paul Tsongas of Massachusetts.

For service in the Middle East, Mr. D’Aloisio and his teams received two Gold Metals, the Department of Commerce’s highest awards, for their contributions to U.S. economic and business interests in Kuwait in 1992 and in Saudi Arabia in 1991.

Mr. D’Aloisio earned his M.A. in International Relations from American University and his B.A in History from Suffolk University.

Mr. Don S. De Amicis - Senior Advisor for International Investment and Development Finance | Washington

Mr. Don S. De Amicis’ professional career has focused on advising corporations, financial institutions, and investment funds on investment, finance and trade matters. In February 2014, he concluded his service as Vice President and General Counsel of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, the international development finance institution of the United States government, where he was a member of the senior management and political team developing strategies for promoting U.S. private investment in emerging markets. He worked closely with colleagues at the Departments of State, Treasury, and Commerce; at USAID, USTR, and the Export-Import Bank; and at the international financial institutions and foreign governments on investment transactions and broader government initiatives such as Power Africa.<brPrior to OPIC, Mr. De Amicis spent over 25 years as a partner at Ropes & Gray, an international law firm, where he represented businesses on regulatory and transactional matters and provided advice on strategies to achieve key business objectives. He acted for major U.S. and foreign business on a wide-range of investment and financing matters, both domestic and international. He also has served as Chair of the Section of International Law of the American Bar Association and as Woolf Fellow at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study, a research institution.

Mr. De Amicis is currently on the board of directors of a business involved in hedging foreign exchange risk. He also is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University teaching International Business Transactions, and is on the faculty of the International Law Institute teaching on international investment and finance topics, including private equity and public-private partnerships.

Mr. De Amicis received his J.D. law degree from Harvard Law School, and a B.A. from Harvard College.

George Dragnich advises on global trade and investment with a special focus on international labor affairs in the developing world, building on his 33-year career as an American diplomat and subsequent service as a senior official of the UN’s International Labor Organization.
In addition to Washington assignments, diplomatic postings included Algeria, Australia, Egypt, Israel, Kenya, Malawi, United Kingdom, and Zambia. From Nairobi, as Regional Labor Attaché, he covered eleven countries of Eastern and Southern Africa. In Lusaka as Political Section Chief and in Lilongwe as Deputy Chief of Mission, he tracked labor issues in addition to wider substantive and management responsibilities. Following a tour as Labor Attaché in Canberra, he last served overseas as U.S. Embassy London’s Minister-Counselor for Labor & Social Affairs, the senior U.S. diplomatic labor assignment abroad.

From early 2009, George Dragnich served two and a half years as the International Labor Organization’s Executive Director for Social Dialogue in Geneva, Switzerland. One of four functional Executive Directors holding the UN rank of Assistant Director-General and reporting to the ILO Director-General, George led six departments and programs numbering over 100 staff in Geneva and a like number in the field.

As the ILO’s lead for social dialogue, George’s encouraged and helped worker and employer representatives forge a common approach to workforce and workplace issues in tripartite collaboration with their respective governments. More broadly, he also led on collective bargaining, labor law, labor administration, labor inspection, industry-specific workplace issues, separate bureaus for employer and worker activities, and a global supply-chain program in the textile/garment industry. The latter initiative, Better Work, is undertaken jointly with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group. In addition to expanding Better Work, George served on its governing board with the Secretary-General of the International Organization of Employers (IOE), the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) General-Secretary, and a senior IFC official. George remains in regular contact with his former ILO colleagues.

Dr. R. Philip Giles - Senior Advisor for Banking and International Finance | New York

For the past 30 years Dr. R. Philip Giles has been an Adjunct Professor of Finance and Economics at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business, where he teaches courses in money and financial markets, including Debt Markets, Capital Markets and Investments, The Money Markets: Domestic and International and Banking and the Credit Markets.
Within the U.S. Dr. Giles also provides on-site customized instruction in financial markets and banking topics for financial services corporations and organizations serving the financial sector. Organizations utilizing these programs have included: JP MorganChase, Moody’s Investors Services, Calyon, The Securities and Exchange Commission, Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), Brown Brothers Harriman, Bank of China, Wachovia, RBS Greenwich Capital, Conference of State Bank Supervisors and Mortgage Banker’s Association, among others.

Professor Giles teaches banking fundamentals to the global legal staff of major European multinational banks. Dr. Giles has served as an expert witness for the SEC as well as Wall Street law firms on cases involving structured finance products. Dr. Giles has also been a contributor to several finance handbooks, most recently authoring the chapter “The American Banking System” as part of Wiley’s Handbook of Finance, edited by Frank J. Fabozzi.

In addition to a Ph.D. in Economics from Columbia University, Dr. Giles holds an MBA from Ohio State University and a BA in Mathematics from Oklahoma City University. He began his career as a systems analyst with Rockwell International, developing and utilizing large-scale digital simulation models for air-to-air missiles.

Lorraine Hariton concluded her term as Special Representative for Commercialand Business Affairs at the US Department of State in February 2014. Secretary Clinton appointed her in September 2009. She was responsible for State Department outreach to the business community, commercial advocacy and global entrepreneurship efforts. She worked with US embassies around the world to ensure that support of business is a priority and has been instrumental in establishing entrepreneurship as a foreign policy tool. Hariton oversaw the launch of the Global Entrepreneurship Program (GEP), a U.S. State Department-led effort to promote and spur entrepreneurship around the world leveraging private sector partners. She also launched the Palestinian ICT Initiative (PITI), was Co-Chair of the U.S-Russia Innovation Working Group, the Mexico-US Entrepreneurship and Innovation Council (MUSEIC) and the US-Japan Innovation and Entrepreneurship Council. She spearheaded the development of the department’s innovation platform and organized the first symposium on innovation in foreign policy. She played a leadership role in orchestrating the APEC Women and the Economy Summit in San Francisco in 2011 and the formation of the Secretary’s Council for International Women’s Business Leadership.
Ms. Hariton has 25 years of experience in the information technology sector in Silicon Valley. During her business career Ms. Hariton worked in a range of sectors including cloud computing, Internet of Industrial things, retail payment systems, Internet audio solutions, speech applications, mid range computers and PBX’s. She served as CEO of two technology companies and spent 15 years at IBM.

Ms. Hariton currently serves on the board of Wave Systems (NASDAQ:WAVX), a data security company. She served on the board of IODA, an online music distribution company and was acquired by Sony Music in 2012 from 2006-2009 and as Chairman of the Board of Beatnik from 1999-2009.

Ms. Hariton has an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.S. in Mathematical Sciences from Stanford University.

Ms. Ruth Harkin, a former head of the United States Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), is senior advisor for economic development finance, a position in which she assists clients to identify sources of support for feasibility studies and other project planning and support activities, finance, insurance, technical and policy assistance for projects worldwide.
An attorney by training, she was one of the first women in the United States to be elected as a prosecutor when she was elected to the office of county attorney of Story County, Iowa. She served as a deputy counsel for the U.S. Department of Agriculture and then a member of a major Washington, D.C. law firm.

In 1993, President Bill Clinton named her Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation where she directed OPIC operations for four years. Her term of office saw the transition of centrally planned economies to freer and more market-based systems in over 30 countries. Ms. Harkin guided OPIC operations to support U.S. business as it competed for billions of dollars to repair, upgrade or replace decaying infrastructure and to support new manufacturing, power and petroleum production facilities.

Ruth Harkin left the government and became United Technologies’ Senior Vice President for international affairs and government relations in April 1997, leading its Washington D.C. office. She later served as a member of the board of directors of ConocoPhillips, AbitibiBowater and National Toll Roads (NTR).

Ms. Harkin is a Member of the Board of Visitors of the College of Business Administration, University of Iowa. She has also served on the boards of the National Association of Manufacturers, the Korea Society and the U.S.-Russia Business Council and was the year 2000 U.S. Working Chair of the Transatlantic Business Dialogue. Ms. Harkin is a Member of State of Iowa Board of Regents.

Stephen Hayes was previously President and CEO of the Corporate Council on Africa, the leading US organization on US-Africa trade and economic relations. During his 17-year tenure in that position, Mr. Hayes led and received numerous trade missions between the U.S. and Africa and worked extensively with the U.S. and African governments on a wide range of initiatives to build trade and investment and strengthen diplomatic relations. In 2008, he was awarded the Ron Brown Award for International Leadership, the highest individual award possible from the United States Department of Commerce and in 2015 under his leadership the Corporate Council on Africa was presented with the President’s “E” Award for Excellence in Export Service.

His many visits to the continent, relationships with key government and private sector leaders and knowledge of the promise and realities of doing business is Africa provide clients with unparalleled advice and counsel as they advance business plans on the continent.

Mr. Hayes has had a long record of international activity, beginning first with service in a Palestinian refugee camp in 1968. His entire adult life has been spent in the international arena and has been presented many awards recognizing his work. They include from the Hungarian Government for his work in helping bring down the Iron Curtain, by the International YMCA for his work on behalf of Ugandan refugees, by the world’s largest student exchange organization, AFS International, for his international program development leadership, and by the African Continental Business Council in Chicago for his leadership in building US-Africa relations. The previous awardee was then US Senator Barack Obama. In 2004, The Transnet Foundation under the chairmanship of Archbishop Desmond Tutu presented Hayes with the Phelophepa Award for his leadership in building US-South Africa economic relations. He has also received awards for his work to help found the Infant Formula Campaign.

Mr. Hayes has also worked on foreign and economic policy issues relating to the former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, Vietnam, China and Libya.

Douglas Hengel is a Senior Fellow at the German Marshall Fund (GMF) of the United
States and an adjunct faculty member at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington. He is a frequent speaker and moderator at international conferences on global energy and economic sanctions issues.
A former senior-level U.S. diplomat, Mr. Hengel was Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassies in Rome, Italy and in Bratislava, Slovakia and also served at the Embassies in the Czech Republic, Peru, and Venezuela.

In Washington, Mr. Hengel worked as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Energy, Sanctions and Commodities from 2007-2010, where he formulated and advanced U.S. international energy security policy, including relations with the International Energy Agency (IEA) in Paris. Mr. Hengel was a member of the Governing Board of the IEA and also chaired the IEA’s Standing Committee on Long-Term Cooperation. He also directed U.S. efforts to prevent investment in Iran’s oil sector and negotiated agreements with several major energy companies to end their activities in Iran.

Mr. Hengel has a Master in Public Policy from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton and a BA from Colgate University.

Ambassador Richard E. Hoagland was U.S. Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, October 2013-August 2015. Before returning to Washington in September 2013, he spent a decade in South and Central Asia. He was U.S. Deputy Ambassador to Pakistan (2011-2013), U.S. Ambassador to Kazakhstan (2008-2011), and U.S. Ambassador to Tajikistan (2003-2006). He also served as U.S. Charge d’affaires to Turkmenistan (2007-2008). Prior to his diplomatic assignments in Central Asia, Ambassador Hoagland was Director of the Office of Caucasus and Central Asian Affairs in the Bureau of Europe and Eurasian Affairs, Department of State (2001-2003). In that position, he wrote and negotiated four of the key bilateral documents defining the Central Asian states’ enhanced relationship with the United States in the aftermath of 9/11. His earlier foreign assignments included Russia where he was Press Spokesman for the U.S. Embassy (1995-1998). During the course of his career, he received multiple Presidential Performance Awards, State Department Meritorious and Superior Honor Awards, as well as the Distinguished Honor Award.

Retired in November 2015 after 30 years of service, Ambassador Hoagland is now an elected member of the American Academy of Diplomacy. He has spoken at university seminars and international conferences. In Summer 2016, he led U.S.-Russian military coordination for the Cessation of Hostilities in Syria for three months from the American Embassy in Amman, Jordan (June-August 2016). He currently is the interim U.S. Co-Chair of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe/OSCE’s Minsk Group for Nagorno-Karabakh.

Born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Ambassador Hoagland completed his graduate degrees at the University of Virginia and earned a certificate in French from the University of Grenoble, France. Before joining the Foreign Service in 1985, Ambassador Hoagland taught English as a foreign language in the then-Zaire (1974-1976) and African literature at the University of Virginia’s Carter-Woodson Institute of African and Afro-American Studies.

Ambassador Vicki Huddleston - Consultant

Ambassador Huddleston was the U.S. Ambassador to Mali and to Madagascar and acting Ambassador in Ethiopia. She is a former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Africa. Earlier in her career she held the same position at the Department of State.

Vicki was the Chief of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana from 1999 to 2002, during the custody battle between Fidel Castro and Cuban Americans over a five- year old child found floating on an inner tube in the Florida Straits. Ten years earlier she was Deputy Coordinator and then promoted to Coordinator of Cuban Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.

As a Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institute she wrote with Ambassador Carlos Pascual “Learning to Salsa – New Steps in U.S.- Cuban Relations” that provided a blueprint for normalizing relations with Cuba, much of which President Obama followed. She maintains her links with Cuba through her small company that in coordination with the Cuba National Association of Economists and Accountants provides business- training workshops to Cubans.

She received the U.S. Department of State’s Distinguished Honor Award, the Secretary’s Career Achievement Award, and a Presidential Meritorious Service Award. In 2008, she was a member of the Obama-Biden State Department Transition Team. She was a Fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow on the staff of former Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM). She received national awards from the governments of Madagascar and Mali.

She was Chief of Party for RTI, a USAID contractor, until September 2015. She began her overseas career as a Peace Corps volunteer in Peru. She earned a Masters Degree from Johns Hopkins School Advanced International Studies and a BA from the University of Colorado.

Vicki has written opinion pieces on Mali, Ethiopia, and Cuba for The New York Times, The Miami Herald, and The Washington Post. She appears regularly on major networks as a commentator on Cuba and Africa and is a popular speaker for foreign affairs groups and universities. She is a board member of Finca Vijia (Earnest Hemmingway’s former home in Cuba), Havana Heritage Foundation, and the Santa Fe World Affairs Forum. She is a member of the American Academy of Diplomacy.

She lives in Santa Fe, NM and is married to Bob Huddleston; they have two children, Robert and Alexandra.

Ari Mittleman is an expert on political organizing, coalition building, crisis communications and social media advocacy. He served eight years as a senior advisor to Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), a leader on trade policy and food security. In this capacity, the two traveled extensively across the United States and abroad.
During his tenure in Senator Casey’s office, Mr. Mittleman’s duties ranged from coordinating domestic and overseas travel, conference planning and political and policy advice. He has deep relationships across Washington political and policy circles with a particular emphasis on the many emerging leaders on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Mr. Mittleman has extensive experience in the use of modern tools of social media and the Internet to help formulate and effectively communicate key messages for international clients. As an example, Mr. Mittleman has singlehandedly built the largest English language Facebook (130K+) and Twitter (24K+) online international community for a sovereign government client. The web portal has allowed for dissemination of positive news and views that dominate English language search engines.

He also provides professional training on public relations tools, techniques and best practices. For example, he empowered literally hundreds of first generation South Asian Americans through intensive seminars on the political process and effective communication and grassroots advocacy techniques.

Mr. Mittleman has a deep understanding of Israeli politics and the public policy interplay with American Jewish organizations and regional and national Jewish media. He is conversant in Hebrew. He has organized numerous “townhall” discussions across the United States where Congressmen can discuss Israeli energy geopolitics with hundreds of their hometown Jewish leaders.

He has worked in the post-war former Yugoslavia and is proficient in Serbian and Croatian.

Mr. Mittleman holds a B.A. from the George Washington University and a Masters from the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Murphy has been a lead trade negotiator for the U.S. Government, resolving trade problems and successfully concluding trade agreements with more than 40 countries on a wide variety of agricultural, industrial and services issues. He served for over three decades in various international economic and trade policy positions in the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), the White House, and the Department of the Treasury.
For 13 years Dr. Murphy was the Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Agricultural Affairs (AUSTR). He chaired interagency teams to develop U.S. trade policy on agricultural issues in consultation with private stakeholders and the U.S. Congress. He also led U.S. delegations in negotiations in the World Trade Organization (WTO) and with foreign governments. He negotiated market-opening agreements involving processed foods, beverages and bulk commodities, and addressed issues arising from agricultural biotechnology, cloning and other new technologies.

Dr. Murphy led the USG interagency team that provided leadership for the successful launch of the WTO agricultural negotiations in the Doha Round and developed an innovative and comprehensive U.S. negotiating proposal submitted to these negotiations. He also led an interagency team that negotiated the first U.S.-EU Wine Agreement in over 20 years, successfully addressing sensitive issues for both sides and facilitating wine trade. In 2008-2009, Dr. Murphy led the U.S. team that negotiated an agreement providing significantly improved access for U.S. beef into the EU market. He also managed the launch of the agricultural sector negotiations in the Trans-Pacific Partnership initiative.

Dr. Murphy holds a B.A. in political science from Williams College, Williamstown, Mass. and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, California.

A senior energy and environment policy official in the Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Clinton Administrations; Mr. William A. Nitze has spent most of his career working on matters related to energy and the environment.
As an associate lawyer at Sullivan & Cromwell in New York, Mr. Nitze became counsel to Mobil South, where he negotiated Mobil’s post-nationalization contracts in Zaire. In 1976 Mr. Nitze was appointed a Director and General Counsel of Mobil Japan.

In 1987 Mr. Nitze left Mobil to become Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Environment, Health and natural resources in the Reagan Administration. In that capacity he acted as the Administration’s lead working-level negotiator on international environmental issues. Before leaving the George H.W. Bush Administration in early 1990, Mr. Nitze led a number of working level delegations to design a framework convention on climate change. Mr. Nitze served as President of the Alliance to Save Energy in 1990.

In 1994, Mr. Nitze became Assistant Administrator for International Activities at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), coordinating all of EPA’s international activities and the representative on the Boards of the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation, the Border Environment Cooperation Council (BECC), and the North American Development Bank.

In 2001, Mr. Nitze co-founded a small non-profit organization called the Gemstar Group, which focused on finding market-based solutions to international environmental problems through technology and policy reform. At Gemstar, Mr. Nitze also worked to aggregate markets for photovoltaic (PV) panels in order to bring down the cost of these panels and thereby increase the production of solar energy.

Mr. Nitze received a B.A. from Harvard College in 1964, another B.A. from Wadham College, Oxford in 1966, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1969.

Peter Rashish has over 25 years of engagement as a trade and transatlantic policy entrepreneur – as a senior executive of the world’s largest business federation, a strategic advisor to major international companies, a leader of a Washington-based policy organization, and as a consultant to foundations.
Most recently he served as Vice President for Europe and Eurasia at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, where he was the senior Chamber official with responsibility for crafting and implementing strategies to promote the interests of Chamber members in the transatlantic market. He spearheaded the Chamber’s advocacy for an ambitious and comprehensive trade agreement between the United States and the European Union, which has been officially launched as the “Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership,” and developed new engagements in the continent’s emerging markets.

Previously, Mr. Rashish has served as an executive with several Washington-based international advisory firms, as Executive Vice President of the European Institute, on the Paris-based staff of the International Energy Agency, and as a consultant to the World Bank, the German Marshall Fund of the United States, the Atlantic Council, the Bertelsmann Foundation, and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

Mr. Rashish has testified on the Eurozone and U.S-European economic relations before the House Financial Services subcommittee on International Monetary Policy and Trade and the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Europe and Eurasia.

Mr. Rashish is a Senior Fellow (Nonresident) at the Washington-based American Institute for Contemporary German Studies at Johns Hopkins University, a Senior Advisor to the European Policy Centre in Brussels, and has been a faculty member of the Salzburg Global Seminar and a guest lecturer at the Georgetown University McDonough School of Business. He serves on the Board of Advisers of the American Security Project and is a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

He earned his B.A. from Harvard College and an M.Phil. in international relations from Oxford University. He speaks French, German, Italian, and Spanish.

Dr. Mohamed Reda - Senior Advisor for Middle East and North Africa | Cairo and Washington

Dr. Mohamed Reda has developed, implemented and guided strategic projects and global partnerships across more than three decades as well as generating business for organizations in the United States, Europe, Africa, and Middle East.

He founded and served as Chairman & CEO of Allied Group, Switzerland; Allied Consultants in Egypt; and Allied Soft in the United States. He founded and chaired Egypt’s Information Technology Export Community (ITEC) and served as a board member in several Egyptian Government-sponsored IT policy task forces.
In earlier positions, Dr. Reda took part in a joint program between Cairo University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), after which he joined Westinghouse until 1989, where he helped on several strategic initiatives both in US, Egypt and globally.

In 1990, Dr. Reda moved to Switzerland and joined Allied Consultants as Senior Consultant.

In 1990, he started Allied Group and established companies in the USA, UK, India and Saudi Arabia, followed by offices in Lebanon and Jordan, and a representative office in the UAE and Morocco. The Egypt operation was established in 1995.

He is member of the European Union IT Observatory Group (EU affiliate organization), a member of the UK National Outsourcing Association, Chair of the IT Export Community in Egypt, Chair of the IT Committee in the Egyptian Businessmen’s Association and Chairman of the International Committee of the Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC). He is also board member of DC export council and board member of several business councils in the Middle East.

He has earned a number of achievements and recognitions from several universities and international organization, including Umm University, Sweden; BPO board, Texas, USA; Middle East IT association, UK and others.

Dr. Reda holds a PhD in computer science, with applied Artificial Intelligence modeling from Carnegie Mellon University, and BA in Economics and Political Science from Cairo University.

Mr. Robert A. Reinstein is an internationally recognized specialist on energy, environment and international trade issues and maintains offices in Washington, Helsinki and Brussels.
After teaching and publishing experience since 1961, from 1975 to 1982 he was with the Federal Energy Administration and the Department of Energy, where he held a number of positions. From 1978 to 1981 he was in effect the chief economist for the Department’s regulatory programs and coordinated the analytical and computer support for these programs.

From 1982 to 1990 Mr. Reinstein worked in the White House Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), where he was responsible for coordinating U.S. Administration trade policy in energy, chemicals and natural resources. He was the principal U.S. negotiator for energy issues in the U.S.-Canada free trade negotiations from 1986-87, the U.S. coordinator and negotiator for natural resource-based products (nonferrous metals, forest products, fisheries and energy-related products) in the Uruguay Round of multilateral negotiations under the GATT, and the principal U.S. negotiator on energy and petrochemicals with Mexico in 1989-90. In 1987 he was alternate head of the U.S. delegation for the Montreal Protocol on Substances Which Deplete the Ozone Layer, responsible for economic, trade and developing-country issues, and was also alternate head of the U.S. delegation for the 1990 London Amendment to the Montreal Protocol.

Mr. Reinstein served with the U.S. Department of State as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Environment, Health and Natural Resources from 1990 to 1993. He was the senior U.S. official for international environmental policy and was the chief U.S. negotiator for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and for the Copenhagen Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, and was recognized for contributing to the IPCC, sharing the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.

He has been an international consultant since leaving government in 1993, and in 1993 was also visiting professor of environmental management at the Institute for Environmental Studies, Free University, Amsterdam.

Mr. Richman’s background, expertise and extensive knowledge of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) permit clients to achieve compliance with drug GMP regulations, including assistance in interacting with FDA during compliance inspections, preparing comprehensive responses to FDA’s FD-483 observations, and in attending regulatory meetings with FDA. In his work, Mr. Richman reviews and advises firms on applicable ICH and FDA guidance documents and GMP regulations regarding quality systems, stability data, process validation, and laboratory controls. He routinely provides assistance on import-export issues.
Mr. Richman served as a Senior Case Review Officer in FDA’s Office of Enforcement, where he was responsible for reviewing and clearing for the Office of the Commissioner, legal action recommendations submitted by FDA field offices nationwide. In 1996, Mr. Richman took on the position of Team Leader for the Adverse Drug Reaction and Pharmacy Compounding Team in FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER). In his subsequent CDER position as Deputy Director, Division of New Drugs and Labeling Compliance, he supervised regulatory operations relating to Rx and OTC drugs. He was instrumental in developing a regulatory strategy to address the marketing of unapproved drug products.

In 2005, Mr. Richman became the Director of the Division of Compliance Management and Operations (DCMO) in FDA’s Office of Enforcement. Mr. Richman has made numerous presentations to groups such as the Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society (RAPS), the Drug Information Association (DIA), the Pharmaceutical Education Research Institute (PERI), and the Food and Drug Law Institute (FDLI) on diverse drug and device compliance issues. Most recently, he presented a webinar for PERI on “FDA Regulatory Actions: The Consequences of Non-Compliance” and gave a presentation on “Violations and Enforcement” at an FDLI seminar on drug regulation.

Mr. Richman was recently selected by the Food and Drug Law Institute (FDLI) to serve on its new Global Committee. This committee is charged with assisting FDLI staff in developing and delivering educational conferences and publications. He and the other committee members will provide input to staff on legal, regulatory, and policy activities and developments in food and drug law in countries of interest and suggest ways to further the strategic goals of FDLI’s global initiative.

Mr. Richman obtained a B.A. degree in Chemistry from Queens College of the City University of New York, Flushing, New York, and an M.S. degree in Chemistry from St. John’s University, Jamaica, New York.

Joel Rubin is a seasoned practitioner of foreign policy and politics, with nearly 20 years of federal experience in government, advocacy, and both Chambers of Congress. Rubin has served at senior levels at the State Department and also ran for the U.S. Congress, providing him with a unique skill set that will help clients navigate the political dimensions of the U.S. foreign policy community. He is also an Adjunct Faculty Member at Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz School of Public Policy and Management, teaching a graduate course on international affairs.
During Rubin’s recent run for Congress in 2015 – 2016 in the historic Maryland-8 Democratic primary, he was described by the New York Times as having “serious foreign policy credentials.” He was also profiled in the Washington Post.

Prior to running for Congress, from 2014 – 2015, Rubin was a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs where he was the senior official in charge of the State Department’s relations with the U.S. House of Representatives.

From 2008 – 2014, Rubin was a leading political advocate on national security and foreign policy issues, promoting active American diplomacy to resolve the Iran nuclear crisis, to restrain nuclear proliferation, and to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He served as the Policy and Government Affairs Director of Ploughshares Fund, a leading global security foundation, where he led the advocacy coalition that supported the Iran nuclear deal.

Rubin served as a senior aide in the U.S. Senate from 2006 – 2008. He joined the office of Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) as a Brookings Institution Legislative Fellow, handling his criminal justice appropriations issues. He later joined the office of the late Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) as his National Security Advisor. In 2008, Rubin won the “Congressional Staffer of the Year” award from the Military Officers Association of America for his work in support of military health care.

Earlier, from 1999 – 2005, Rubin was a career official at the State and Energy Departments and the U.S. Agency for International Development (AID). He won numerous awards for this work, including the State Department’s Superior Honor award. During this time, he ran programs to promote solar energy deployment across the United States, economic reform in the Middle East, and support for the war on terrorism. He began his federal career as a Presidential Management Fellow.

Rubin has been a fixture in the national media on foreign policy issues, including frequent television appearances on MSNBC, CBS, Fox, BBC, and CNN. He also writes for Huffington Post and has published opinion pieces in multiple outlets, including Politico, Foreign Policy, and The Hill. In addition, he has been quoted on foreign policy issues by the Daily Beast, the Jewish Daily Forward, the Washington Post, and al-Monitor.

Rubin holds a Bachelor of Arts in Politics from Brandeis University and a Master of Science in Public Policy and Management with a Minor in Business Administration from Carnegie Mellon University.

Dr. Atindra Sen - Senior Advisor for India | Mumbai

Dr. Atindra Sen was chief executive of the Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry, India’s oldest business organization with a membership of 4300. During his leadership, he sharply increased the Chamber’s membership, raised its profile in Indian government and civil society circles and pioneered a program of social media communications, expanding the Chamber’s reach and influence. Dr. Sen strengthened the Chamber’s advocacy activities by growing its research capabilities and launched a quarterly journal examining economic and financial issues.
Dr. Sen specializes in the area of corporate ethics, corporate social responsibility, banking and finance, foreign direct investment and India’s new competition laws. A recent focus has been on the retail trade and agribusiness sectors. He has been a member of various Review Missions of the Indian government, focusing on trade in education services and human resources. His principal focus as Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive was to expand India’s trade and investment in global markets. He has also focused extensive attention to India’s trade relations with its immediate neighboring nations, including Pakistan.

Dr. Sen also has substantial experience as an academic and researcher in economics in India and the U.S. In the U.S., he has held faculty positions in a number of institutions, the last being the Farmer School of Business at Miami University of Ohio. His international teaching experience included a Visiting position at Seoul University. Dr. Sen does pro bono work through his non–profit organization based in Kolkata.

Dr. Sen was educated at St. Stephen’s College, Delhi and at the Delhi School of Economics from where he obtained a Master’s degree in Economics. He holds a second Master’s degree in Economics and a Doctor of Philosophy from Boston University. He was a SPURS Fellow in MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning.

Mr. Steiner is an experienced executive and manager with more than 30 years of management and development as well as business experience in the global hi-tech industry. He has been involved in technology and business aspects of companies, as well as management and business development. Mr. Steiner is involved and acquainted with the global ICT industry and trends, and with the vibrant startup scene in Israel and globally. Mr. Steiner also serves as Vice President and member of the Board of the German-Israeli Chamber of Commerce.
In his most recent position Mr. Steiner managed the R&D Center of SAP AG in Israel with around 750 employees – one of the strategic development centers of the German software company. Prior to joining SAP, Mr. Steiner was the General Manager of Infineon Israel – a development center of the German semiconductor company Infineon AG (IFX). Before that he was President and COO of LaserComm Inc. – a Texas-based company developing a unique optical system for the long haul optical communication industry, and was founder and General-Manager of Kolnet Systems – a systems house specializing in real time systems, mainly in the data communication field.

Mr. Steiner lived for 10 years in California, where he completed his Master’s degree and worked in the data-communication industry, contributing to the initial steps leading up to the creation of the Internet.

Mr. Steiner has a BSc. in Electrical Engineering from the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, and a MSc. in Computer Science from UCLA, California.

Thomas Svanikier is a Ghanaian citizen, born, raised and educated in Accra, Ghana. He is a descendant of Danish entrepreneurs who migrated from Denmark and settled in Christiansburg – Osu, in Accra. He is the founder of a number of companies including Svani Group of which he is executive chairman and a non-executive director for several other companies. He acts as a consultant and advocate for international companies who wish to invest and operate in Ghana and elsewhere in Africa.
He founded Svani Limited in 1990 as an automobile retailing company based in Accra, Ghana, supplying vehicles to Ghana and neighbouring countries. Since then it has expanded and diversified into the Svani Group with subsidiaries and capital investments in transportation, energy, finance and real estate. Svani Ltd is a manufacturers’ representative for several international industrial firms.

He is also co-founder and chairman of Africa Capital Ltd, the largest shareholder of Fidelity Bank Ghana Ltd and Fidelity Asia Bank, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia as well as chairman of the advisory board of Fidelity Bank Ghana Ltd. He is co-founder and chairman of Dream Oval Limited, a technology start-up company developing internet security systems software and mobile hardware for global markets. He is co-founder and director of Atholl Energy Limited, working with Siemens to provide energy generation solutions to Ghana. He is founder and chairman of Global Strategic Ventures Ltd, which supplies security solutions, armoured vehicles and bullion vans for governments, banks and mining companies.

Mr. Svanikier is a non-executive director of Opportunities industrialisation Centre, and the Africa Poverty Eradication Commission, both located in Accra, Ghana. He is a founding member and former non-executive director of the American Chamber of Commerce, Ghana.

Mr. Swanzey’s professional career has focused on advising global and domestic businesses in their international investment and finance strategies and operations.
Mr. Swanzey is a partner in a C-suite advisory firm concentrating on the nexus between business and industry and the public sector. He was a Senior Managing Partner of The McLean Group and Chairman of the Board of Advisors, a Washington DC area middle market-oriented investment banking firm. He was also a founding partner in Global Development Partners Group, specializing in global economic development issues; a founding Partner in the Washington DC based investment bank Stonecroft Capital; founder of Swanzey Associates, advising and advocating on behalf of large enterprises, including the business community of New York City before, during and in the aftermath of the 9/11 disaster; and was a Partner in the London-based global consulting firm, PA Consulting, working largely in the Middle East.

Mr. Swanzey spent the majority of his career with The Chase Manhattan Bank Corporation in New York City in senior positions, serving the Bank for close to 25 years. In his first 7 years with the Bank, he worked directly for the CEO and Chairman David Rockefeller on major and sensitive issues concerning the Bank–issues affecting every component of the Corporation and the International Advisory Committee vice-chaired by Henry Kissinger. Mr. Swanzey’s role in the Office of the Chairman regularly brought him into contact with numerous heads of state, leaders of industry and business, and high-ranking U.S. government officials.

Mr. Swanzey also served as Chase’s Senior Vice President of Government Affairs. That department was responsible for both global and domestic public policy positions, advocacy, regulation and legislation, community affairs, and NGO relationships. He participated in virtually all major financial services policy issues and financial services events for two decades. Additionally, after Interstate Banking laws were amended, Mr. Swanzey participated with the most senior management of the Corporation in its national expansion and merger and acquisition strategy nationwide.

Prior to Chase Manhattan, Mr. Swanzey worked with Nelson A. Rockefeller during his tenure as Governor of New York and Vice President of the United States.

Langley Wall is a consultant to domestic and international natural gas companies. Ms. Wall has demonstrated expertise in the LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) and CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) sector. She has provided expert advice to numerous projects which sought to establish new natural gas import, export, transportation, and consumption opportunities. Ms. Wall has specific knowledge of the “Small Scale LNG” sector which enables natural gas to be utilized in transportation applications (fuel for trucks, trains, or ships) and projects which are lower footprint in nature and not possible with traditional LNG terminals. Ms. Wall works with clients through the regulatory process, establishes the government connections and partnerships companies need, and devises supply chain and sales and marketing strategies to support their venture.

Prior to her role as a consultant, Ms. Wall held positions at some of the largest and most influential energy companies in the world. While at Excelerate Energy, the largest owner, operator, and provider of Floating Storage and Regasification Units, which offer the ability to import natural gas from a ship stationed offshore versus a shore-based LNG import terminal; she managed their “Small Scale LNG” development group. Small Scale FSRUs can be used to transport and regasify LNG for smaller natural gas import clients such as islands or areas where a world scale gas import terminal is not workable. During her time at ENGIE, a French multinational electric utility company, she helped create the strategy and value chain positioning for LNG sales from the company’s import terminal in Boston, MA and proposed terminals dedicated to serving new markets. She was primarily focused on establishing ENGIE’s presence as an LNG supplier to the marine bunkering market. Ms. Wall became interested in small scale LNG and CNG solutions while working for Clean Energy Fuels. Clean Energy Fuels is a publicly traded corporation which has builds natural gas trucking infrastructure across the United States to support the fueling of CNG and LNG trucks. Ms. Wall’s career in the natural gas industry began as a “landman” where she completed detailed title opinions on large land tracts and subdivisions and negotiated complex mineral leases and right of way agreements for drilling activities in the Barnett Shale. She managed the brokerage of over twenty Chesapeake Energy drilling units and seventeen landmen who were completing leasing, title, and curative activities in these units.

Ms. Wall is passionate about guiding companies and governments towards the expanded use of natural gas, whether it is for new transportation consumers or in the development of infrastructure to support imports to the traditional grid. She resides in Houston, Texas.

Mr. Wynne, based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, has extensive transactional experience in large capital projects in M&A, government infrastructure, utility-scale project finance, sustainable and renewable energy project finance and commercial development and principal investment.
He maintains a wide range of relationships with Canadian and international firms in a number of industrial sectors and has served as an executive in, a principal of, or been a financial and strategic consultant to global firms in the following industries:

Mobile payments

Aerospace digital data communications

Digital security/encryption technology

Brewing

Insurance (life and property & casualty)

Commercial banking/lending

Renewable and non-conventional energy infrastructure

Refinery and downstream petroleum project

Charter airline

Retail

He has run his own diversified investment advisory firm, handling merchant banking, M&A, corporate finance, sovereign debt and structured debt and lease financing, brokerage and advisory services to private sector firms, sovereign governments and Canadian provinces. As a senior partner in a financial services firm, Mr. Wynne acquired and expanded an internationally branded retail business, raised capital via public equity financings and private debt issues, and became a director of that public company that was later sold to a large North American chain.

Mr. Wynne holds a Bachelor of Commerce, Finance degree from the University of Alberta, graduating on the Dean’s List for outstanding academic achievement.